Ahh it is that time of year. The days are getting a little shorter, the leaves are beginning to turn, the smell of Autumn is in the air. I love this time of year as I know many of you do, and you know who else loves this time of year? Brown Orb Weaver spiders.
You know the ones I am talking about. The big, nasty, brown f*ckers that start making their massive webs in the fall. The spiders we usually see are the female Neoscona crucifera, also known as a barn spider similar to the species Araneus cavaticus (you may recognize this species as it is the same spider that "Charlotte" in Charlottes Web was based on).
Why am I talking about Spiders so much? Because I found myself adding one of these little demons to my story "Second Wind" as one of the main three animals (well, arachnid) represented.
There is a good reason why I added a spider to my story, and It all started when I read the headline:
"It's Flying Spider Season In Chicago"
What. The. F*CK.
Flying spider season? Yes, flying spider season. These little bastards weave a parachute like web after they hatch and hitch a ride on the wind. Turns out many of them hitch a ride all the way across lake Michigan and settle into the city center of Chicago. This explained why I have seen them in their webs at the very top of the John Hancock building on the outside of the window. You see, they think the buildings are trees. Really tall, shiny cold trees, and they make their webs there. Well, along with everywhere else in the city. And because of this I came home one evening to find this on my back porch:
Yeeeepp, that's as big as it looks. That web take up an entire third of my porch. I was horrified. I was so horrified that I couldn't even get close to the thing to kill it. God knows it looks like it would have fought me back had I tried.
I came home to the same scene the next two nights thoroughly creeped out. Then the next night (after drinking a fair amount of alcohol) I decided to take it out. As I walked outside to kill this bastard I noticed something. The spider was in the process of weaving its web. usually it was finished by the time I saw it, but I guess it got a late start this evening.
I stood there, broom in hand, ready to kill but I was entranced by watching this little orb weaver's precise and mathematical movements as it constructed its web. You gotta understand, this web is HUGE and before I knew it I had been standing there for the better part of 35 minutes, a half a pack of smokes gone, watching this little creature finish up its death trap. How could I hurt it after that? What a tragic way to die, after spending an hour crafting this beautiful, deadly web.
I decided to let it be for the night. I told myself "it's not hurting anyone" and went to bed. A few more days went by and each evening the spider made a new web, and each night I would step outside to watch it. Eventually we named it "Henry", for no other reason than "Henry" was the first name that popped into my head. I spoke with my apartment neighbors and we all decided that as long as Henry stayed in her corner, we would not hurt her or her web. Through watching henry I slowly began to be less afraid and creeped out by spiders. Being able to get that close to one and really look at it desensitized me. I even almost touched it one night with my finger.... almost. The more time I spent with Henry the more I realized that she was just living like every other creature. I had chosen rats and pigeons as the protagonists in my story because they were animals that were loathed in the city, yet they could not control what they were or what they had to do to survive. I realized the same was with Henry and all of the other spiders. Though we hate them, they really aren't doing anything other than what they do. And the truth is that a bite from one of these spiders is less painful and damaging than a mosquito bite. Henry was a random being and moment that began a thought process that I am still traveling down and trying to figure out myself. But the moment I stood and watched her build that web changed something for me.
In the end, Henry did not make it through the winter. One day I came out and she was huddled in a little corner of the porch. I let her be. I came out the next few nights and she was in the same spot in the same huddled position. After about a week I realized she was gone. It's nothing to be sad about, she was a spider and they are not meant to live more than a season. She had served her purpose, but I did find it interesting how much thought I had invested in this little spider and her life. After watching her weave her web that first time it made me think about a larger picture, about the place of living things in the universe and about the process of life itself.
Because of this, Henry made it into the comic. Though the story is a little different, the idea is the same. Here are some examples of the images from the book. The first few are from the first chapter, and the last set are the main part of the final story (not the completed story). As you can see, there are some direct references taken from Henry herself. I hope you enjoy it! And if you would like the see "Second Wind" in its entirety visit https://www.vestebancomics.com/
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